From the 'Well of the Retching Cure' to a commuter village on the M9 motorway

Murder and Execution 1898-1899

On 4 July 1898 Ellen Lawlor, about 70 years of age, was found dead in her home near Paulstown. She had been murdered.[1] While murder has always occurred, no doubt the news of an elderly woman being killed sent shockwaves throughout the area. Patrick Holmes, a farm labourer, and a man by the name of Brophy were caught within a couple of weeks. They were charged with Mrs. Lawlor’s murder and remanded in custody.[2] Lawlor lived alone in a secluded house “from where she ran a huckster’s business and the local people thought her to be a wealthy woman”.[3]

At the Leinster Winter Assizes in Waterford the jury failed to reach a verdict so a second trial was ordered. [4] The evidence presented showed how Holmes robbed her then battered her to death to prevent her identifying him.[5] Before the end of the year Holmes was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged in Kilkenny in January 1899. [6] Kilkenny had long been considered one of the more peaceful counties in Ireland, with the Tithe Wars of the 1830s providing the last serious violence in the county. The authorities had to erect a new scaffold as it was over fifty years since the last execution in the county. Before his execution Holmes left a statement with the governor of the gaol.[7] A man by the name of Scott was the hangman and Holmes “walked firmly to the scaffold and betrayed no emotion”.[8] He was executed on Saturday 7 January 1899.[9]